Zambia - Day Two

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There are no phones or alarm clocks at Toka Leya. Instead, someone walks to your suite, which, by the way, are all connected to each other and the main lodge via elevated wooden walk ways. This protects you from the wildlife. When it gets dark, you must yell out for someone to come get you and then they escort you to where you need to go.



We had a great breakfast and then were driven to the Zimbabwe border where we went through customs again so we could tour Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The United States has one, the Grand Canyon. The falls are massive and even though they were at low flow as this is only the start of the rainy season, we still got damp from the spray. At full flow, we would have been drenched, even with ponchos. We finally saw baboons as a group crossed the road as we were heading over the border back in to Zambia.

We then met back up with Godfrey who took us to a very rural village, and when I say rural, I mean RURAL. We were led around by one of the villagers who first had us shake hands with the Chief. Everyone lived in thatched roof huts with the walls comprised of a wooden frame plastered with termite mound mud. No electricity, no plumbing, no running water, no furniture except for makeshift beds. These people are subsistent farmers but they live a very relaxed lifestyle and only earn money by selling jewelry they make to visitors and burning branches to sell them as charcoal. We saw a few of them with cell phones.

Later that afternoon, we went on our first game drive where we saw giraffe, bucks, zebra,and monkeys. At the end of the drive, Godfrey drove us to an area patrolled by armed rangers who follow and protect a heard of white rhino. We walked to them and stood about 20 feet away, observing them.



Then it was dinner followed by a bunch of people who danced for us and then it was bedtime but not before taking a huge bubble bath outside on the deck.

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Photos

The white rhinos.
White rhinos are not white. When originally named, it was misheard as white, not as it should have been, wide. White rhinos have a wide mouth that allows them to graze on the ground. Black rhinos have a hooked lip which allows them to eat branches and bushy vegetation. Black rhinos are more scarce but all are poached for their horn.

Comments

[Dale Wirick]

Cool Photos
Little crazy with the bubble bath stay safe